ElDo 12 is substantially deeper and richer than standard LH80. ElDo 12 is out of my price range for everyday use, it makes any cocktail that calls for Demerara extra special. Having said that, plain old LH80 is a fine rum.

Interesting side note for this thread: Martin Cate once told me that Smuggler's Cove is the No. 2 ranked bar in the U.S. in terms of volume of El Dorado rum consumed. The No. 1, interestingly, is a bar (if memory serves me) somewhere in the Maryland area that serves a huge community of ex-pats from Guyana who drink tons of the white rum.

FYI: I stock nearly every El Dorado product in my bar (up to and including the 15-year), plus Lemon Hart 80 and 151 naturally. I'd love to try some of those others.

I haven't been able to find LH 80 since supplies dried up several years ago, but I've had great success making it myself from the 151 by using a decanter, some distilled water and the formula discussed here:
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=42188&forum=10It tastes pretty darn close to what I remember. Superior to ED5 and ED8, and great for mixing.

I started that thread and I've been "making" my own LH80 ever since then. It works perfectly, and the cost per 750ml bottle is great. LH only produces the 151 now, but Ed Hamilton confirmed that the 80 was the same rum and that water was added to bring the bottling proof down to 80.

I can't get LH here and El Dorado 12 is $120 a bottle. I'll be back in June and will be hunting high and low for some LH 151. I can bring three bottles back with me (legally) although i'm going to find out what the deal is if i bring back a few more. I have to work out how many bottles i want to cut with water to stretch it out as long as i possibly can.

On 2014-04-22 18:07, swizzle wrote:I can't get LH here and El Dorado 12 is $120 a bottle. I'll be back in June and will be hunting high and low for some LH 151. I can bring three bottles back with me (legally) although i'm going to find out what the deal is if i bring back a few more. I have to work out how many bottles i want to cut with water to stretch it out as long as i possibly can.

Since when are airlines allowing overproof (= highly combustible) spirits on airline flights? As far as I know commercial airlines still ban spirits above 140 proof both as checked baggage and carry-on.
_________________"If you keep on drinking rum, the world will soon be quit of a very dirty scoundrel."
Robert Louis Stevenson

Since when are airlines allowing overproof (= highly combustible) spirits on airline flights? As far as I know commercial airlines still ban spirits above 140 proof both as checked baggage and carry-on.

Are you serious? I didn't know that. Well there goes that idea. $#%^ing mother#$%@ing #&%$. I suppose i'll have to bring back some ED 12 with me instead.
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On 2014-04-22 20:28, tikiskip wrote:Take mailing tubes with you and mail the rum back to yourself.
Or put 151 rum in a lower proof bottle to bring back home.

Unless i use large mailing tubes which i can pack out my biggest concern there is the bottles breaking. And i've thought about pouring it into different bottles too but, even though they'd go in my checked luggage, if for some reason it was searched and they saw that the bottles had been opened but were full whether or not that could be an issue.

I think i'm going to have to try and drink as many cocktails i can that have LH in them when i'm there and bring back ED while i can get it cheap. I'd never spend $120 on it here to use in cocktails. Unfortunately the cheapest demerara rum we can get (Lambs, Woods) is still about $90AUS a bottle, WHEN, you can get it.
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